~The Book Of Wonder Encyclopaedia~
~Q~
The quince tree bears a fruit which is closely related to the pear. The most common types of quince for fruit are the Portugal and the Apple-shaped. Selected types, usually Angers Quince, are used as rootstocks on which pears are grafted to produce dwarf trees which fruit prolifically. The quince tree can be kept low growing and new branches can be trained along supports making it easier to gather the fruit. Mine is about 3' high and and fanned out to about 5' horizontally.
Flower colours range from a pale pink, through shades of red, to orange and look like a small, loose-petalled wild rose, mine are orange and give a nice splash of colour.
The fruit of the quince start as small, browny-green, marble-like balls which get lighter and larger until the quince ripens to a yellowy colour and is slightly elongated in shape.
Quince is too acid to be eaten raw but makes very tasty preserve or jelly when cooked. It is also a popular tree to bonsai.
See More Jam, Jelly & Marmalade for the marmalade recipe.
Quinoa
Quinoa [pronounced 'keen-wa'] is a cereal grain from Peru that has been farmed in the South American Andes for around 5,000 years and was used by the Incas as part of their staple diet. It is of the Goosefoot family, Chenopodiaceae but is said to be not really a grain but a seed of a plant relative to spinach. Quinoa is high in essential nutrients and provides calcium, iron, vitamin E and protein to a balanced diet along with many amino-acids. It is an annual which grows to about 6 feet tall with it's seeds in large clusters looking like millet on the end of stalks.
Quinoa can be cooked like rice or ground into flour, it is very digestible and a good substitute for those with wheat allergies, coeliac disease, stomach and bowel problems, and can be substituted in many recipes for many grains and cereals. The leaves can be eaten as a vegetable and the substance that covers the seed, saponin, can be used as a soft soap. Saponin is usually washed off before the seed is used in food. The seed itself is disk shaped with a harder band around it, when the seed is cooked it becomes soft but the band retains a little hardness which gives a crunch to the food along with a nutty flavour.
Quinquereme
Roman quinqueremes were superior warships of their era; being built with durable cedar making them heavy and stable in stormy weather and sturdy enough to withstand the pressure of ramming or being rammed. The quinqueremes were propelled by several banks of oars, each oar propelled by five men - hence the 'quin' - making it a very speedy vessel.
The Romans were soldiers, not sailors, but their strength and battle training came in useful when an enemy ship had to be boarded, using a gangplank, called a 'corvus', which had a large metal spike in the end to anchor it securely. A boarding party consisting of about 120 men would cross to the captured ship so they could fight hand to hand and massacre the enemy crew then keep the enemy ship as a prize.
If, like me, your thoughts turn to the words "Quinquireme of Ninevah...." when you read this, then you can't remember the rest of the poem, you will find it in my poetry pages, it's called Cargoes, and is by John Masefield.
